Emirati Arabic

Arabic varieties of the UAE

Emirati Arabic

اللهجة الإماراتية العربية
Native to| United Arab Emirates
Region| Eastern Arabia
Ethnicity| Emirati Arabs

Native speakers

| 3.7 million (2020)[1]

Language family

Afro-Asiatic

* Semitic
* Central Semitic
* Arabic
* Peninsular
* Gulf
* Emirati Arabic

Dialects|

* Northwestern Emirati Arabic
* Southern Emirati Arabic
* Northeastern Emirati Arabic

Writing system

| Arabic alphabet, Arabic chat alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3| `afb`

Emirati Arabic (Arabic: اللهجة الإماراتية العربية, romanized: al-Lahjah al-Imārātīyah al-ʻArabīyah) refers to a group of Arabic dialectal varieties spoken by the Emiratis native to the United Arabic Emirates that share core characteristics with specific phonological, lexical, and morphosyntactic features and a certain degree of intra-dialectal variation, which is mostly geographically defined. It incorporates grammatical properties of smaller varieties within the UAE, generally of tribal nature, which can be roughly divided into a couple of broader sub-varieties: the first spoken in the Northern Emirates of Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, and the western part of Ras al-Khaimah; the second in the eastern part of the country, mainly in Fujeirah, Dibba, Khor Fakkan, Hatta, Kalba, and the eastern part of Ras al-Khaimah; the third in Abu Dhabi including the oasis city of Al Ain, the dialect is also seen in the Omani region of Al-Buraimi.[2]

Speakers of Emirati Arabic identify themselves as speakers of a distinct variety (as compared with other neighbouring dialects such as Qatari or Kuwaiti Arabic), based on several phonological, morphological, and syntactic properties that distinguish Emirati Arabic from other Gulf Arabic varieties.[3]

## Arabic language[edit]

There are different forms of Arabic:

* Classical Arabic, the language of the Quran and of all the literature of the first centuries of Hijrah (from 622 AD)[4]
* Modern Standard Arabic (the fuṣḥah, in Arabic: فصحى), the contemporary standard language taught in schools and used in journalistic prose, in written administrative texts, in mass media and in universities.
* Colloquial Arabic, the set of dialects used in everyday communication, outside the written and formal situations that varies not only from one Arabic country to another but also from one region to another within the individual states.

## Diglossia and dialectal variety[edit]

Due to the coexistence of the Modern Standard Arabic (high language) and the dialect (low language), it is possible to speak about diglossia of the Arabic language.[citation needed]

The United Arab Emirates, extending over a total area of about 83,000 km² and hosting more than 200 different nationalities, represent one of the nations with the largest aggregation of ethnic groups in the world. Archaeological excavations have shown that in this area several Semitic races were established. It follows that the spoken language, the Emirate dialect, includes some different dialectal shades. It represents the communication tool used by the overwhelming majority of the population, although people of good cultural level are able to express themselves in official Arabic. Notwithstanding the recent filling up of urban areas to the detriment of rural ones has led to a growing decrease in local dialectal variations, we can still identify three main areas of different shades of the Emirate dialect: Abu Dhabi (including Al-'Ayn, the western region and islands), the Northern Emirates (including Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain and part of Ras al-Khaimah) and the East Coast (including Fujairah, Khawr Fakkan, and the remainder of Ras al-Khaimah). To give a practical example, the word "mob (مب)" a negation which simply translates to "Not" should be mentioned with its variations: "mesh (مش)" in Abu Dhabi, "mob (مب)" in the Northern Emirates and "ma (ما)" in the East Coast.[3][5]

Furthermore, the unification of the United Arab Emirates has contributed to making changes to the locally spoken dialect. Due to the Emirates' aggressive globalisation, it has been necessary to identify a more standard method of communication to interact with foreigners. As a result, the Emirati dialect has received influences from other Arabic dialects and foreign languages. Words from the technical language have often an English origin and have arrived in the Persian Gulf through interchanges with the English and Indian population, and then have been adapted to an Arabic pronunciation.

Moreover, in the spoken Emirati language it is common to substitute some letters with others of similar sound: the [d͡ʒ] can become [j]; the [k] can become [t͡ʃ]; the [q] can become [g] or [d͡ʒ].[6]

English  | Standard Modern Arabic  | Standard Emirati Arabic

|
|

Chicken  | /dæˈd͡ʒæːd͡ʒ/  | /diˈjaːj/
Fish  | /sæˈmæk/  | /sɪˈmat͡ʃ/
Coffee  | /qahˈwa/  | /gæhˈwa/
Near  | qaˈriːb  | /d͡ʒɪˈriːb/ , /gɪrˈiːb/
Mountain  | /d͡ʒæˈbæl/  | /yɛˈbæl/
Dog  | /kælb/  | /t͡ʃælb/

There is also a guide book for the Arabic dialect of the Emirates, Spoken Emirati, and an Italian version, Dialetto Emiratino, edited by Nico de Corato together with Hanan Al Fardan and Abdulla Al Kaabi, authors of the original English version.[7]

## Loanwords[edit]

Some examples of loanwords in Emirati Arabic:

Loanwords[8][9][5] Transliterated Word  | Meaning in English  | Language Burrowed from

|
|

soman | equipment  | Urdu
dreːˈwæl | driver  | English
siːˈdæ | front  | Urdu
ˈxaːshuːˌgæh | spoon  | Turkish
dæriːˈshæ | window  | Persian
buʃˈkar | servant  | Persian
acancel  | I cancel  | English
doːˈʃæg | mattress  | Persian
leːt  | light  | English
orːæd.di  | already  | English
sændiˈwiːt͡ʃ  | sandwich  | English
d͡ʒuːˈti  | shoe  | Persian
seːˈkæl  | bicycle  | English
kʰaːb  | cap  | English
burˈwaz  | frame  | Persian
t͡ʃʌb  | shut up  | Urdu
moːˈtær  | car/motor  | English
dæfˈtɛr  | notebook  | Persian
særˈwaːl  | trousers  | Persian
ɛsˈtaːð  | male teacher  | Persian
moˈda  | fashion  | French
rɛˈgiːmæ  | diet  | French
bantˤaˈluːn  | trousers  | French
ruːbiˈd͡ʒːaː  | money  | Hindi
ʃˤaˈnˤtˤa  | bag  | Turkish
abˈla  | female teacher  | Turkish
tɛzː  | whatever  | Turkish

## References[edit]

1. ^ Emirati Arabic at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
2. ^ "Shihhi Arabic", Wikipedia, 2024-01-04, retrieved 2024-01-26
3. ^ a b Leung, Tommi Tsz-Cheung; Ntelitheos, Dimitrios; Kaabi, Meera Al (2020-12-29). Emirati Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-30055-0.
4. ^ "Quale arabo? Arabo moderno standard e dialetti". Quaderno di arabo (in Italian). 2016-08-13. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
5. ^ a b Al Fardan, Hanan (2016). Spoken Emirati (in Arabic and English). Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Al Ramsa Institute. pp. 8–10.
6. ^ al-Hashemi, Isleem, Ayesha, Nasser (2015). Ramsah: An Introduction to Learning Emirati Dialect and Culture. Kuttab Publishing. ISBN 9789948186632.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
7. ^ "Academy of Poetry publishes UAE dialect dictionary in English, Italian". Emirates News Agency. 2017-05-29. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
8. ^ Leung, Tommi Tsz-Cheung; Ntelitheos, Dimitrios; Kaabi, Meera Al (2020-12-30). Emirati Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-31756-5.
9. ^ "Emirati Phrasebook P1to41". pdfcoffee.com. Retrieved 2022-05-21.

## External links[edit]

* Emirati Dialect Conversation Manual (in Italian)